# Two at once

From the Rhythm room: Two at once (/sangeet-yatra/rhythm/two-at-once.html).

A polyrhythm is two evenly spaced pulses that do not divide into each other, played
together. You learn the sound they make together, not two counts at once. Ride (right
hand, bell) is the faster hand, snare (left hand) the slower. Both land on 1.

1. Play the slow hand alone until it is automatic.
2. Play the fast hand alone with the click.
3. Say the sentence out loud and tap it, one syllable per hit.
4. Drop the sentence and listen to the shape.

## Five in a beat

Uncommon. The styles before this page split a beat in two, in four, or in three.
Three is the triplet, and the shuffle and 6/8 are built from it. Five equal notes
in one click is one hand, and it is the
warm-up for the two-hand rhythms below. Hat on all five, kick on 1, snare on 2.
Count "one-la-li-la-le, two-la-li-la-le". The usual fault is turning it into 2+3.

    hat    x x x x x x x x x x
    snare  - - - - - o - - - -
    kick   o - - - - - - - - -

## 3 over 2 ("nice cup of tea": right hand nice, cup, tea; left hand nice, of)

    ride   b - b - b -      (six slots, two clicks)
    snare  o - - o - -
    as one o - o o o -      (four hits)

## 4 over 3 ("pass the god-damn but-ter": right hand pass, the, damn, ter; left hand pass, god, but)

    ride   b - - b - - b - - b - -      (twelve slots, three clicks)
    snare  o - - - o - - - o - - -

## 5 over 4 ("I'm looking for a home to buy": right hand I'm, look, for, home, buy; left hand I'm, ing, a, to)

    ride   b - - - b - - - b - - - b - - - b - - -      (twenty slots, four clicks)
    snare  o - - - - o - - - - o - - - - o - - - -

Practise each both ways round, so neither hand is "the real one". Start at 50.